Of all the disciplines involved in making anything – TV, film or anything I do – the writing is the most valuable commodity.
I’m a failed pop star. I always sneak a song into everything I do.
There are good and bad critics like good or bad artists. A good critic says why they didn’t like it. A bad critic gives it away that they don’t like you as a person. I quite like that as well, because it means that I’ve won.
I think Hollywood’s gotten more reactionary and conservative over the years, because there’s no longer art in Hollywood. Art suffers in Hollywood.
I want to get all the nations of the world together, it doesn’t matter what colour or creed, and I want to sit them down and say: “Guys, The Office is still available on DVD.”
Hollywood is responsible for some of the greatest and worst movies of all time!
You can drive 1,000 miles across America and find yourself, whereas if you drive a few miles from Slough you’re in London anyway, or you hit Wales and you’re in another country! Also, wherever you are in England it’s still raining.
I’m not a film snob at all. I much prefer a really good Hollywood blockbuster than a thought-provoking art house movie because entertainment is sort of where it’s at.
There are so many films now where you know the story is a supporting role to the visual effects.
I don’t see myself as part of an acting fraternity or a comedy fraternity.
I feel that a lot of British comedy is often too bombastic, too obvious, dressing up and shouting and pulling funny faces.
The most important thing in comedy – apart from empathy, which I think is important even if disguised – is surprise. I like surprising people with the fact that something’s even a joke at all.
Never fear the truth. No bad can come of discussing a true subject. No bad at all.
I think comedy has to be an intellectual pursuit. It comes down to logic and analysis. As soon as it becomes emotional, it’s not comedy anymore.
Americans are brought up to believe they can grow up to be the president of the United States. Brits are told, It won’t happen to you.
Everything you do is autobiographical. Yeah, I grew up in a town called Redding and I had older brothers and sisters so it’s all my memories of growing up.
I had great memories of growing up in a working class estate. I remember it being sunny all the time. So we’re putting that on screen. It’s not people wallowing in degradation.
There was a nobility in poverty when I was growing up. My mom was poor but she was planting roses and she was cleaning the steps, you know what I mean. You didn’t feel sorry for yourself.
There’s nothing as perfect as the initial idea. And the only reason I write and direct is to protect the writing, because that’s what’s most precious.
You see reality TV and it’s not reality TV. It’s contrived and everything is plotted and scripted nearly. Documentaries are the same and just as bad.